sid winter and some major dividesin western socio ... · sid winter and some major dividesin...
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SidWinterandsomemajordivides inWesternsocio-economic thought:Self-Organization,Power,Habits,and
LearninginHumanOrganizations
This project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action under grant agreement No 649186
GiovanniDosi*LuigiMarengo^
*Sant’Anna SchoolofAdvancedStudies,Pisa^Libera UniversitàInternazionale diStudi Sociali (LUISS),Roma
LargelydrawinguponDosi-Marengo,JournalofInstitutionalEconomics,2015Dosi,MarengoandNuvolari,LEMWorkingPaper2016/38
WheredoSid’scontributionsfitamongthemajordivideson,e.g.
• The“primitives”ofthetheory• Exchangevs.power• Incentivesvs.capabilities• Deliberationvs.habits/heuristics
Letmestartfromthebeginning...
• Whatareinstitutions(ofwhichorganizationsareasubset,ofwhichbusinessfirmsareafurthersubset,...)
• Andwheredotheycomefrom
Two“primitive”stories:
The“rationalist”taleOnceuponatimetherewerefullyrationalindividuals livingaloneintheforestwhothenmetinafieldtoplayaconstitutional“meta-game”calledlet’ssettherulestointeractwitheachother
The“institutionalist”taleOnceuponatimetherewereinstitutions,families,tribes,clans– whichsometimesevolved/createotherinstitutions(churches,states,firms,schools)– togethershapingtheidentitiesofindividuals
Exchangevs.power
• Hierarchieswheredotheycomefrom?- anoriginal“constitutional”exchange (hierarchies
areoutcomeofaefficiencyarrangementsnegotiatedsometimeinthepast).
- hierarchiesareareflectionofpowerrelationshipsamongsocialgroups:authorityrelationshipsareintrinsicallydifferentfromexchangerelationships(Weber)
Thenatureofhierarchies“Exchange”view “Political”view
Noanalyticalstatustothenotionofpower
Essentialfeaturesoforganizationsarepatternsofpowerexerciseandauthorityrelations
Apparent“powerrelations”canbeexplainedbyasymmetrictransactions
Power/authorityrelationsareessentiallydifferentfromexchangerelationsandthereforearealsoautonomousinterpretativedimensions
Transactionsarethebasicunitsofanalysis Unitsofanalysisincludeknowledge,organizationalforms,behaviouralcodes,mentalframes
Organizationsare“veils”coveringsetsofcontractsorbundlesofincompletecontractualagreements
Organizationsasdifferentfromandconstitutiveofexchange
Weakvs.StrongInstitutionalismWeakInstitutionalism StrongInstitutionalism
Roleofinstitutions Parametrizesystemvariables;providemenuofstrategies
Alsoembedcognitiveandbehaviouralpatterns;shapeidentityofactors
Primitivesofthetheory Perfectlyorboundedlyrationsagents
Institutionsasprimitives;formsofrationalityandperceptionofself-interestasderivedentities
Mechanismsofinstitutionsformation
Mainlyexplicitandrational“constitutional”processes
Partlyunintentionalself-organizationprocesses
Efficiencyproperties Institutionsperformusefulcoordinatingandgovernancefunctions,oftenviewedasequilibriainsomegame
Institutionsare‘carriersofhistory’,providerulesofthegameandreproducepath-dependentlyirrespectivelyofefficiency
Theorigins,dynamicsandefficiencypropertiesofinstitutions
• Gametheory,bargainingagainontheedgeoftheforest:Greif(2007)– “Whateveris,isright?”(Ogilvie,2007)“[Economists]havetendedtoadopttheviewthatifaparticulareconomicinstitutionhaspersistentstablyforalongtime,itmusthavebeenefficient….evenvigilantejusticeandlynchinghavebeenrehabilitated– underthelessrebarbativerubricof‘informallegalsystems’– asefficientsolutionstoinadequatecontractenforcementinpremodernsocieties”
• Variation-selection:institutionsassocialtechnologies(Nelson)• Exaptation• Unintentionaloutcomesofself-organizationprocesses• Byfiat powerfromabove
– “L’etat c’est moi”LouisXIV• Socialconflictnestedinasymmetricdistributionsofpower
Andwhichefficiencyproperties?
• Thejokeof“asif”maximization?– Cfr.Winter(1971)forburialnote…
• Selectiononruggedfitnesslandscapes• Moregenerally,ubiquitouspath-dependencies–Whyoneobserversinstitutionsxattimet?Weshouldlookatthelinkagesbetweenxandotherinstitutionsattimet-1
Organizationalbehaviourandperformances:threeanalytical
perspectives
• Incentives
• Authority
• Capabilities
Someconclusionsasaninvitationtojoinalargelyunexploredresearchprogramme
• AfterthefarreachinginsightsoftheEnlightenedFoundingFathersofModernSocialSciences(Smith,Marx,Weber),mostoftheprofessionrevertedtoanewreligion,possiblymoredogmaticthantheold,andcertainlymeaner…
• ForgetBentham,forgeteconomistsintheirmajority,butrather,talkingtoanAmericanaudience,gobackandtrytorigorouslyoperationalizethenotionofinstitutions/organizationsofDewey,Veblen,Commons, A.Hirschman,H.Simon,J.Marchand,lastbutnotleast,toohumblyputforwardbySid….
Threecriticalchallenges
• Combinatorics,Complementarities,Structuresofwhateverkind
• Institutionalembeddednessoftechno-economicchange
• Co-Evolution